‘Dance’ wins narrative prize at Austin

'Informant' wins docu feature award

Noah Buschel’s “Sparrows Dance” has won the narrative feature award at the Austin Film Festival.

“Dance” centers on an agoraphobic actress who hasn’t stepped outside in over a year finds her comfortable routine broken when her toilet overflows. When a saxophone-playing plumber shows up, they strike up an awkward friendship.

Jamie Meltzer’s “Informant” won the documentary feature award and Bryan Buckley’s “Asad” took the narrative short trophy.

The Writers Guild of America East and the Austin Film Festival tapped Jack Davidson as the recipient of the fest’s drama screenplay award for his “Clouds of Sorrow” script.

The screenplay topped five other scripts — “Cumberland” by Scott Larson, “Dali” by Lorraine Mauvais, “Dark Ops” by Andrew Sodroski & Raven Burnett, “From New York to Florida” by Austin Reynolds and “Lukomorie” by Margot Arakelian.

A trio of WGA East members judged the competition: Stephen Schiff (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”), Christopher Kyle (“Alexander”) and John J. McLaughlin (“Hitchcock,” “Black Swan”) and WGA East member Jim Hart presented the award.

Davidson received one of the festival’s Typewriter Awards in addition to a $5,000 prize.